Page 4 of Into the Dark

Adrienne snorted. “Don’t bother. It’s boring.”

“Because we don’t turn every bump into a bunch of screaming and running!” Chris burst out. “We take this seriously, not like?—”

Ms. Montague cleared her throat and even the wind seemed to fall silent. “As Mx. Saito has pointed out, your teams have very different approaches.However,I have respect for both. This location is extremely large, so there’s plenty of room for your teams to investigate independently of one another.”

Was this a competition? If Montague wanted to invest in only one ghost-hunting team, this would be her chance to judge them side-by-side, with all other variables controlled. Same location, same dates, same conditions.

This wasn’t what they’d signed up for.

When no one objected, Montague continued, “Ordinarily the Howlston Lunatic Asylum is off-limits. It’s too far from civilization to attract bored teenagers, and the owner has private security patrol to make sure no urban explorers or ghost hunters get in. He is kindly allowing us access for four days.” By which she no doubt meant he kindly allowed her to give him a large sum of money in exchange for access to the site.

“Everything is set up and waiting for you,” she added, gesturing to the tents. “The smaller tent will be your command center. The larger is for eating and sleeping. The third tent ismy private retreat, which I ask you all to steer clear of. Both gas and solar power are ready for use, and there’s plenty of food and water. Ethan here will assist you if needed.” She gestured to the secretary.

Of course she’d want someone on site to keep an eye on how the teams were interacting, just in case anything came up. “So he’s staying here with us?”

“Indeed, Dr. Taylor.” Montague smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “We both are.”

CHAPTER

THREE

This wasn’t at allhow Oscar had expected things to play out.

He’d thought it would be like other investigations they’d conducted. Like Cloven Oak Distillery, though hopefully with fewer murderous ghosts. The four of them would go in, do some filming, and try to give the dead the peace they deserved.

Maybe they still could. Just because Montague was keeping an eye on them this time, not to mention silently comparing them toZeeking the Unknown, didn’t mean it had to be any different.

He’d seen their show a couple of times—he tried to keep up with all the popular urbex and paranormal investigation streams. It was…flashy. A lot of loud voices and yelling.

But Ms. Montague wasn’t a fool, so they must be the genuine article. Maybe there was more in the raw footage that didn’t make it onto the internet. They worked a lot with mirrors, he recalled, though it had been a while since he’d watched and specifics escaped him.

“I’ll stay out of your way and let you work,” Montague went on. “We have a local wifi network set up—Ethan will give you the password. Cellular service is extremely spotty, since there’s noone left in the area to need it, so you can’t rely on being able to backup to…what was it, Ethan?”

“The cloud, ma’am,” Ethan said. He was good-looking in a subdued way, his brown hair neatly trimmed and his suit creases sharp enough to cut. A pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

“Yes, that’s it.” She looked them over. “Any questions?”

“So we just go about our usual routine? Separately?” Oscar asked, glancing at Adrienne and Zeek. Adrienne’s arms were folded tightly over her chest, while Zeek wore a vague smile directed at nothing.

“Indeed.” Montague waved a hand at them. “Good luck.”

As soon as she retreated back into the tent, Adrienne marched to the trunk of the sedan. “Zeek, give me a hand. We need to set up.”

“Yeah, okay.” Zeek grinned at them. “See you on the flip side, dudes!”

Tina grabbed Chris’s arm and all but dragged them to the opposite side of the van, out of sight of the other team. Oscar and Nigel followed.

“Spill,” she said, letting go of Chris and turning to face them.

Chris sighed and rubbed their face. “Adrienne and I dated for a couple of semesters in college.”

Oscar kept in a sigh of his own. Ghosts fed off strong emotions; two exes who had clearly not parted on good terms would give them a buffet of anger and old hurt. This was definitely going to complicate things.

Tina tapped her foot. “…And?”

“We were both art majors at UNC-Charlotte.” Chris leaned against the van. “Concentrating on digital media. I wanted to be behind-the-scenes, she wanted…otherwise. She was doing a double major in acting, so it makes sense in retrospect, I guess. Our relationship went from ‘The Adrienne and Chris Show’ tojust ‘The Adrienne Show.’ I felt like I was an extra in my own life. I tried to talk it over, she accused me of having no ambition, we had a huge fight, and she stormed out. That was it.”

“And you’ve been hate-watching her show,” Tina guessed.

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